‘Da Vinci’s Demons’ has found its leading lady to play opposite Tom Riley’s Leonardo and her name is Laura Haddock.

Haddock is a well-known in Britain for her work on the television series ‘Upstairs Downstairs’ playing the part of Beryl Ballard as well as starring in the series ‘How Not to Live Your Life’ and ‘Monday Monday.’ She also appeared in last year’s ‘The Inbetweeners Movie.’ Haddock will play Lucrezia Donati, the mistress of Lorenzo Medici and lover of da Vinci.

‘Da Vinci’s Demons’ is said to be a historical fantasy about the “untold” story of the brash and brilliant 25 year old artist, inventor, swordsman, lover, dreamer and idealist Leonardo da Vinci (Riley) during his turbulent youth in Renaissance Florence. He is described as being the Renaissance version of our modern day Tony Stark as he struggles to live within the confines of his own reality and time and begins to see and invent the future.

This project is the first of many under a deal that was struck between Starz and BBC Worldwide Productions last year. The series was written by David Goyer (‘Man of Steel’, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, ‘The Dark Knight’, ‘Batman Begins’) who will also serve as the series’ showrunner. Julie Gardner (‘Doctor Who’, ‘Torchwood’, ’Sarah Jane Adventures’) and Jane Tranter (‘Torchwood: Miracle Day’) will serve as executive producers.

Production on the ‘Da Vinci’s Demons’ will begin sometime this year for a 2013 air date.